Beer: Ratings & Reviews

Reviews by ROMER79:

I had to post this beer. I had this beer for the first time ever at a bar in Philadelphia called Jose Pistola's. They actually have this treasure on tap. Not only is it on tap it comes in an imported glass from Belgium which holds 10 oz for your enjoying pleasure. It is $13 dollars for a 10oz, but that is not bad considering what the owners have to go through to keep this beer on tap. I suggest that if you get a chance to try the beer, try it! Don't let the price scare you away, it is well worth it.

A: A nice golden yellow with a white head and bubbly like champagne.

S: Very sweet like a fruit salad or cotton candy.

T: Sour, bitter, and dry. Champagne like.

M: Very dry almost like wine, yet bubbly like champagne.

D: If you conquer the bitter/sour feel, you can drink this like your favorite wine. Bubbly!

More User Reviews:

A slightly cloudy orange pour with almost no head at all. The nose is summer-like and fresh. Big hints of lemon-lime and a grassy, straw like scent in the background.

The taste is extremely tart right up front. The bitterness moves from the tip of my tongue straight to the back of my mouth where sour notes take over highlighted by lemon, lime and a drop of vinegar. The finish is long as the tartness has great staying power.

The mouthfeel is quite fresh and alive with acidity. Smoothes out towards the finish.

I'm a big Gueze fan as it stands anyway so for me the drinkability on this is very good. A nice start to the day or even a thirst quencher in warm weather. You can't beat a top notch gueze.

375 ml bottle purchased at Riley's Wines of the World, in Madison, WI in later 2005 or early 2006. Cork reveals the bottle to have originated in 2005. Corked and capped green bottle with black foil over the cap. Consumed in November, 2009.

Mouthfeel: Dry, acidic, mellow. Tart but with very little sourness compared to other geuze and Cantillon offerings. Could it be the age? The bottle? Wine like.

Drinkability: In part because of the mildness of this geuze it is exceptionally drinkable. I could partake in glass after glass. Very nice, but I would like it to be a bit more sour. As I recall, other bottles I have sampled in the past have been considerably more potent and mouth puckering.

Apparently this is the same beer as Cantillon's Gueuze 100% Lambic, only this is the bottling exclusively for Belgium, and the yellow labels with the "falling backwards chair guy" was specifically for the American release. Not sure why there are two separate entires for the beer here, then, so what I will do is review this is a different vintage, since that's basically what it is. This bottle is from December 2012, relatively fresh for a beer like this.

Pours a golden-orange, just outside the realm of true copper; very nearly opaque, which is strange considering the 2011 Gueuze had exceptional clarity. They both share the same, foamy white head that fizzles away within moments and leaves nothing but a stark-white halo surrounding the top of the beer. Can't decide whether I like the filtered, crystal clear look or the hazy, unfiltered and raw look better.

Super funky and tart, and I expect nothing less from Cantillon. Tartness is made up of ripe green apple skins, lemon rinds, and sour white grapes, while the funky aromas include heavy barnyard, sweaty horse-y funk, piles of wet wood, and even some dirty feet. Never in my life did I think I'd be describing a beer as smelling like sweaty horse and dirty feet, let alone actually enjoying those smells so much, but it's fantastic. This fresher vintage smells more funky than tart, where as year-old bottle is the other way around.

A sharp acidity with some apple skins and juicy, tart lemon hits up front, spread out on a canvas of wet oak-barrel and barnyard brettanomyces. The initial flavor is quite tart and borderline puckering with some stone-fruity flavors, but just as the aroma would indicate - this thing turns into funk city pretty quickly. Wet horseblanket, wet cork, damp cellar, must, and again, some cheesy, sweaty feet. But really, in the best way possible. I can't help but think "WTF" to myself as I typed that, but believe me - you've never smelled feet like this before.

Mouth feel of each of these beers is more or less identical; pretty thin, wet, and crisp, with an ample amount of carbonation. The slightly-sour and heavily-funk finish leaves your palate with reminders of apples, vinegar, and funk to the max. Each sip gets smaller and smaller as I try to make this beer last for as long as possible, and I know I'll be upset when my glass is finally empty.

Just further confirmation that Cantillon has a stranglehold on the sour beer game. American sours and wild ales are getting better and better, and some of them are pretty damn impressive, but there is just no way to replicate that signature Belgian funk. So strangely appealing and so unabashed and unadulterated. If these two beers indeed have the same recipe, it seems that time will change the beer from more funky to more sour. I think I preferred the year-old bottle to the fresh, but not by much. This beer is fantastic either way.

A: Pale yellow straw color. Slightly hazy. A small white and rather sparkling head settles quickly into a small ring of lacings.

S: A fantastic fresh and fine tuned smell. Aromas of both tart and overripe apples, tart berries, fresh hay and some vinegar. Apart from some very faint funky aromas of wet hay and yeast, this could have been the smell of a fine cider or a sparkling white wine.

T: The taste is just as fresh and tart as the smell. Tart apples, lemon peel with semi-sweet nuances, fresh hay, grass and some yeast. Wheat and malted barley. A very balanced character throughout the experience. In the finish, the tartness develops into a more sharp sour taste with a prominent character of lemon. The finish is dry and has notes of barrel, lemon pits, some phenols, a minimal grassy bitterness and everlasting sour notes. The funkiness is very restrained, but becomes present every now and then in the form of wet hay.

M: Medium body with a dry finish. The carbonation is very lively and sparkling. Overall, the beer has a very sparkling character, again like a cider or like a sparkling white wine.

D: This is a world class gueuze, with a rich and refreshing character. Very easy to drink and surely a "fine wine of the beer world".

A: hazy and warm pale honey colored body. very little head, but thats to be expected and fine with me. slight ring around the glass edge.

S: musk, musk, and more musk. wild grass, wool, horse blanket, tons of acidity. if you really strain theres a tiny hint of sweetness and ripe fruit. grapes, apples for sure, and maybe some pear. did I say musk? how about acidity? pale tart acidity. the only reason I dont give this a 5 is that I drink a lot of Cantillon and I know some of their other brews top this nose. So if those are 5's this must be a step below. Though hard to imagine improvement.

T/M: Crisp mouthfeel thats concurrently soft. The acidity makes it very refreshing but the low carbonation and wheat make the palate feel soft. Taste is bracing up front with acidity, mid palate warms a bit and presents the wild yeast qualities. Grapes, lemon, lime, husk, funk. A tart citric quality rises towards the end as the finish continues to dry and prolong the wild funk so characteristic of the style. So balanced yet so complex and so interesting. This beer demands your attention and rewards you for it.

D: An acquired taste for sure but once you do, you cant go back. I could drink this all night practically. For a gueze the balance of complexity and drinkability is extremely high. Awesome.

T - Intensely dry tartness, with a lemony aspect. Nice dry earthiness and horse blanket funk. I had a fresh batch at the brewery, and while that was very good, this is a whole different level. I think the fresh batch is more refreshing, but the depth of flavors and intense tartness of this vintage is pretty spectacular.

M - Medium mouthfeel, but very crisp, tart and dry throughout.

O - Having the fresh and aged bottles close together gives me a great appreciation for aging geuze, as this was excellent.

Pours in the glass a bright golden color. Very bubbly and effervescent with a thin white head that faded quickly. Smells like sour fruit. Taste is sour and also very dry, similar to champagne. It's a dynamic flavor, bubbly in your mouth but easy to drink. This is a great beer to have with brunch.

smaller bottle, foil, cap and cork, cork states this one was bottled in 2004. Pours hazy/murky apricot in color. White head initially puffy, settles down to a thin tiny bubble film, leaves minor lacing. Nose is sharp, sour, and cleanserlike. This is a big, very sour brew, certaintly not for everybody. Lots of sour grapefuit and full on lemon flavor going on, pucker up! Fine sipper, still acquiring a taste for this unique variety of Belgian suds. Unless you love this stuff, I'd go for the varieties of Lambic, that add fruits, softens the experience and makes em more drinkable

2004 vinrage. The beer pours a clear yellow color with a white head. The aroma is funk, brett, lemon and tartness. The flavor is tart with some lemon and brett funk. The beer is very dry and really gets the salivary glands going. Medium mouthfeel and medium carbonation.

From a 750ml bottle, capped and corked, pours a cloudy honey color. The effervescent white head is thin and quickly dissipates.

The aroma is sour apple and cherry, along with yeast and cinnamon. The flavor is also quite sour, mainly apple, some grapefruit, along with plenty of sugar and little vinegar.

Very light in body. Which there was little bit more in the glass to anchor it. A small wine glassful of this after dinner would be nice or maybe paired with certain cheeses, but is not all that drinkable on its own. Not bad, I could see sharing a bottle with a couple of friends over a board of mixed cheeses and fruits.

The flavor is similar to the aroma, but perhaps a bit more bright with fruit--lemon, apple, and pear. The tart funk and sourness is huge here as well, though balances exceptionally well with the sweet, fruity flavors. Tremendous!

A 375ml bottle with a bottling date of May 2010. Acquired at the brewery in Sept 2010, while on a trip to Belgium. Subsequently stored in my garage.

Poured into a Duvel tulip. A clear golden-amber hue with low carbonation. Produces a small head of white foam that dissipates quickly. An intense acidic aroma with hints of apples, barnyard funk, fruity notes, lactic acid and vinegar. Complex and sour.

A powerful sour flavour - highly acidic and puckeringly astringent. A tart fruitiness, like apples or apricots, along with a lactic acid note (like an out-of-control yoghurt). Hints of funk and vinegar. Mouthfeel is light, tingly and incredibly dry and acerbic. Dries the palate thoroughly. A fruity, sour aftertaste.

Wow. I've had this before and it's always a unique drinking experience. Incredibly sour but delicious. It really brings home the idea that there's more than one way to make beer. A classic of the style - if you have the opportunity to try it, don't pass it up.

Pours a hazy bronze-yellow color with a half-finger white head. The head recedes into a wispy layer on top leaving decent lacing.

Smells of barnyard funk with very slight hints of nondescript fruit sweetness.

Tastes similar to how it smells. Sharp acidic flavors up front smooth out into a funky tartness. The level of tartness is actually a bit lighter than what I was expecting from Cantillon for this style. Tart green apple and unripe pear flavors lurk in the background. The ending is crisp.

Mouthfeel is good. It has a moderate thickness with active carbonation.

Drinkability is good. I finished the glass fairly quickly and could have another.

Overall as I mentioned before this wasn't terribly over the top in sourness and was actually quite well balanced. Worth a shot.